How Does Google Live Search Affect Your Business?

Google now displays real-time search results from many sources such as Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook.

The live search tool displays headlines from news sources and blog posts seconds after the posts are published.

What does this mean for your business? Anyone searching for information about a company, product, or service now has access to live search – real time results from millions of sources across the web. By simply clicking ‘Latest Results’ on Google search, browsers receive with a full page of continuously updated content from millions of sources across the web.

What does this mean for Company XYZ who has horrible customer service, massive amounts of complaints, but in the past has been able to cover their tracks well? Well, it means brand management just got a bit more difficult.

For Company ABC who has great customer service, a happy client base and overall good reputation, this new live search is great.

What about the middle man, Company LMN? This company has one or two unhappy Joes that they can never seem to please. Joe is constantly putting out negative content on the web and LMN is struggling to keep up. To learn more about unhappy Joe, read Who is Guarding Your Castle on Carol Flammer’s blog.

This change has made social media and digital content more important than ever before. Company ABC who has only positive feedback, this is a great new feature. It will simply enhance the positive message. For companies such as XYZ who have poor brand management, Live Search has made things more difficult for them. Companies like LMN? It could go one of two ways, they are able to respond and contradict Joe and his comments or Joe will become a more prevalent feature. This all depends on the companies social media strategy.

Companies who are constantly updating their Fan Pages, conversing on Twitter, or otherwise engaging in the conversation with their target audiences have the ability to reach a much larger target audience and become a more prominent presence on page one of Google.

If you haven’t jumped on the social media bandwagon, aren’t really sure how to “engage” in the conversation, or need help with brand management, don’t worry. The team here at mRELEVANCE has everything you need to create, maintain and further your online image, not to mention all the public relations skills to keep your name alive in print as well.

Don’t be left in the dark when it comes to your online brand, make sure you are putting your best foot (and search results) forward and remember: When your clients Google your name do you like what they see?